hrguy54 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I extracted this from a large rock over the weekend. Never found anything like it. The site is Ordivician and has a lot of cephalapods, bryozoans, etc. Is it a cephalapod? Or the spike from a horse shoe crab? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truceburner Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Belemnite, perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 thinking cast of an orthocone nautiloid Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
araucaria1959 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Interesting specimen. It looks like an orthocone nautiloid, and if it is ordovician, I see no alternative; however, I miss the chambers which I would expect at least at the thin end of the specimen. Can you show us a picture of the other end where it is broken off? araucaria1959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Evidence of the chambers would be diagnostic for an orthoconic nautiloid, but I don't see them either. Bear in mind that certain Ordovician orthocones had large siphuncles composed of long tapering endocones nested within one another, such as the endocerids.. It is possible that this specimen is a siphuncle. Some genera are known almost entirely from their siphuncles, as the rest of the shell, including the septa and outer shell, were fragile and virtually never preserve. Don 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 ...It is possible that this specimen is a siphuncle... Real good point! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrguy54 Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Real good point! Actually the tapered end came to a fine point but it crumbled off before I could preserve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erose Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 I would also suggest it is a cephalopod or at least the siphuncle of one. I have seen a few specimens preserved like yours although there is usually a hint of the original thin outer shell. It also looks like yours has some bryozoans attached. Good find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 further to my original suggestion, could it be a cast of a sediment filled cavity where the original structure has dissolved away, thus explaining lack of normal diagnostic features? just a thought while looking at little pics on my phone... Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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